A Parting Gift
by Kalta79
Summary: A continuation of A Hero Sandwich
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure about this?" Elena asked as she undressed.

"Of course." Tseng replied, pulling her to him.

"You'll have to tell Rufus soon." Elena caressed his chest.

"As soon as we're successful, I plan to." Tseng kissed her neck.

"We don't have to do it this way if you're not up to it."

"I guess I'm somewhat traditional, and I'm very up to it." Tseng proceeded to prove just that.

* * *

Elena burst into Tseng's office where he was having lunch.

"It's official!" she exclaimed. "Reeve confirmed it."

Tseng threw his fork down and stood up, taking Elena in his arms and kissing her. "It's about time!"

Elena noticed the brief appearance of pain in his eyes. "When are you going to tell him now?" she asked.

"After lunch. I'll want you there with us." His voice became less excited as he sat down and resumed his lunch.

* * *

Rufus sat down in shock as Tseng finished talking.

"How long?" Rufus asked when he found his voice again.

"The doctors say it'll be a miracle if I make it out the rest of the year." Tseng answered.

"There's no treatment available?"

"There was one that was successful for a while. But even that quit working."

"You're going to leave me?!" Rufus started getting angry to protect himself from the grief that was threatening to choke him.

"Not exactly. When the doctors told me the treatments quit working, I told Elena because I needed her help. We just got confirmation that she's pregnant with my child."

"You told Elena first?" Rufus asked, glaring at her.

"Yes, I told Elena first. I wasn't going to tell you until I knew I wouldn't really be leaving you." Tseng patted Elena's stomach.

"But you are! Why didn't you tell me first?" Rufus stormed out, slamming the door.

Elena had wisely kept silent, knowing this was between Rufus and Tseng, not her. In the five years since she started joining them when they wanted some variety, Rufus had vacillated between seeming to regard her as an interloper and almost enjoying her company.

"Well, that went better than I thought." Tseng remarked.

* * *

Elena thought Tseng must have been fighting his illness up until her pregnancy was confirmed, because after that day, he got worse at a frightening pace while the babies within her grew. They were happy to find out that she wasn't just pregnant, she was pregnant with twins. She played nursemaid as best she could, and then Rufus hired a couple round the clock nurses for Tseng. Rufus never came in the room, he would just stand in the doorway looking at Tseng, and he would only occasionally go to the office, spending most of his time searching for some cure for Tseng, which made everyone happy, because he had become quite tyrannical again. He never looked at Elena's face anymore either, only her growing stomach.

One day, Tseng requested both Rufus and Elena's presence in his room. When they arrived, they were surprised to see the company lawyer there. The nurse wheeled Tseng in soon after they arrived.

"What's going on here?" Rufus demanded to know.

"Even though Mr. Bandon is a corporate lawyer, he can still legalize a will. I've made mine, everything I own will be liquidated into a trust for my children with Elena the executor of the estate. Rufus, I want you to sign this." Tseng took some papers from the lawyer.

"It gives Elena and our children legal residence at your estate for the rest of their lives, and none of your future heirs will be able to break it."

"Why should I sign this?" Rufus demanded to know.

Tseng sighed. "Please leave us for a few moments."

Elena, the nurse, and the lawyer left the room and stood outside the door. They heard Rufus' angry voice and Tseng's calm voice, but they tried not to listen. A few minutes later, a very upset Rufus stormed out with the papers in one hand and a pen in the other. He signed them there in front of the group, and then threw them at the lawyer.

"There's your damned handout!" Rufus yelled at Elena before storming off.

They went back into the room, and Tseng looked extremely worn out. The lawyer told him that Rufus had signed the papers in front of witnesses, and then put all the papers including Tseng's will back into his briefcase and left.

"Please get me back to bed." Tseng wearily requested.

Elena and the nurse got Tseng back into bed, and the nurse left at Tseng's request while Elena stayed.

"I want you to move in right away." Tseng told Elena.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Elena asked. "I think I'm the last person he wants around him right now."

"He needs you, he just can't admit it. I'm counting on both of you to take care of my children."


	2. Chapter 2

Elena was in her eighth month when Tseng died. The weather the day of the funeral was appropriately overcast. Reno and Rude stood on either side of Elena while Rufus stood off by himself, listening to Reeve deliver the eulogy. When it was time to put the roses on the coffin, Reno and Rude supported Elena when her legs started to give out. Rufus stayed by himself until Elena went over to him. She touched his arm, and he jerked it away. Elena sighed and went to the limo where Reno and Rude were waiting for her. They drove back to Rufus' estate for the wake. Reno stayed by Elena's side while Rude stayed by the food table's side.

"Rufus should be the one here with you." Reno told her.

"He should be where he's most comfortable." Elena replied, looking up at Reno as she sipped her tea. He had changed more than she thought he would, when he and Rude were told about Tseng's health, and Reno was faced with having to take over the leadership of the Turks.

Just then, Rufus appeared and went into his study/office, slamming the door shut. Elena closed her eyes and sighed. She knew he went in there to drink himself stupid. In the two months since she moved in to a separate wing of the mansion, he had done that frequently, almost as frequently as he would come into her room at night while she was sleeping. At first he would stand by her bed, just looking at her. Then he would start putting his hand on her extended stomach for a while, then leave. She pretended to be asleep because she didn't want to embarrass him.

"Tseng left a video message to be played in place of my reading his written will since you already know what it contains, and after all the guests have left, we'll watch it in the study." Mr. Bandon came over to Elena and informed her, Elena nodded and he went on his way.

"How are you doing?" Reeve came over next and offered his condolences.

"You play the grieving widow well." Reno remarked.

"Rufus has more right to that title than I do." Elena said in mild rebuke, though she was glad Rufus was getting himself drunk in his study, so he didn't see everyone offering her their condolences.

After the guests left, Elena asked Reno and Rude to bring in the remaining coffee to the study. Rufus had drunk himself into a stupor, and Elena had Reno and Rude get some coffee into him while Reeve and the lawyer got the video equipment ready. When Rufus was sober enough, they started playing Tseng's video will. It was apparently made when he was in the early stages of his decline because he was still standing on his own.

 _I better be dead while you're all watching this or you're all fired. Reno, you're now in charge, I expect you to do all you can to have the Turks regain their former glory. Rude, feel free to knock some sense into Reno when he needs it. Elena, you already know that you and our children will get everything I own. Mr. Bandon has a separate video for them when they're old enough. In a way I hope I didn't make it to their birth, it makes it easier. I'm glad we've got names picked out for them already. Rufus, I never told you or Elena this, but I did add an extra form to those papers I had you sign to give Elena and our children legal residence at your estate. It's me signing over all parental rights to you, and you accepting. You're now their legal father, and I want you to give Elena all the help she'll need. You'll all each other has now. That's all I can think of say now, everything else I wanted to say I've had already told you. Goodbye._

Mr. Bandon turned everything off and Elena looked over at Rufus, who looked confused. He shrugged and drunk more brandy. As soon as the others left the room, Elena managed to get out of her chair and waddled over to Rufus, pouring a cup of coffee for him, moving the brandy out of his reach.

"Here you go."

"I don't want your damned coffee and I don't want you!" Rufus stood up and threw the coffee at the wall then shoved Elena away from him, starting to storm out.

Elena was pushed against the chair she had been sitting in, and she fell over it, grabbing at anything to try and stop herself from hitting the floor, and she grabbed at the flat screen TV without knowing it. She managed to fall on her back, not her stomach, but the TV hit her stomach and she cried out from the pain. Rufus turned around just as he opened the door. A chill ran through him and he ran over to her, taking the TV off her stomach. Elena screamed when she saw that the glass had broken and one shard had pierced her stomach.

"Don't touch it!" Rufus yelled at her, then ran to the phone to call for an ambulance.

Reno and Rude, with Reeve following behind them, burst back into the room, Elena's scream audible to them from down the hall. Rufus put the phone back down.

"Did you bring the helicopter?" Rufus asked Reno.

Reno nodded absently as he watched Rude and Reeve lift Elena up off the ground.

"Take her to the WRO hospital." Rufus ordered Reno.

The three of them got Elena to the helicopter safely and immediately took off.

Rufus watched them depart, feeling sick. _How could I have done that? Did I just lose Tseng again?_


	3. Chapter 3

Reeve had radioed ahead so a team was waiting for them when they landed on top of the hospital. Reeve and Rude had done what they could to keep Elena calm and minimize the bleeding. Once they lifted Elena down onto the gurney, Reno started up the helicopter again.

"What are you doing?" Rude asked him.

"I'm going to find out what happened. You stay with Elena and take care of her. That's an order!" Reno took off back to Rufus' estate, ignoring Rude's gestures.

After they had injected Elena with an IV, they took her down in the elevator to the diagnostic floor to see what, if any, damage had been done to the fetuses before any surgical decisions were made.

* * *

Rufus sat down at his desk in the study, taking all the bullets but one out of his revolver, thinking back to how he and Tseng got started. It was during his recovery from the explosion that nearly killed him. Tseng had always been there for Rufus when he needed a job done or help cleaning up a mess he found himself in, but during his slow recovery, Tseng's assistance took on a new dimension.

* * *

"Dammit!" Rufus fell back into bed, panting from exhaustion.

"What's wrong?" Tseng asked, coming into his bedroom.

"I didn't ask for your help." Rufus snapped. "Get out of my room!"

"My job is to take care of you." Tseng calmly replied, picking up the socks that had fallen on the floor and putting them on Rufus' feet.

"Well, you must feel pretty happy with yourself, having someone so debilitated that they need your constant assistance." Rufus' statement was meant to be as insulting to Tseng as it was to himself, frustrated as he was for being so weak.

Tseng said nothing, just went to the door and stood next to it in a sentry position. Rufus was both pissed off and relieved that Tseng never lost his temper with the childish behavior Rufus knew he was exhibiting.

That night, Rufus tried to walk to his own bed after a long day, but he fell down halfway to it. Tseng found him trying to crawl to bed, and picked up Rufus and put him in bed. Rufus wanted to say something nasty, but he was too humiliated at his condition and the unpalatable realization that he really did need Tseng's help for the littlest things. In the middle of the night, on the way back from the bathroom, he fell down again, and Tseng was there again to put him back in bed. This time, he held onto Tseng's arm.

"Why are you really doing this?" Rufus demanded to know. He refused to believe the 'job' excuse anymore. Anyone else would have quit by now because of his bad behavior.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Tseng replied.

"Yes, dammit! Why can't you leave me to suffer?"

"Because I _want_ to help you." Tseng caressed his hair and kissed him.

Rufus was stunned momentarily, but something in him was eager to respond to Tseng's overtures, and he pulled Tseng to him with the frail strength he could muster. Tseng was gentle that night, accommodating Rufus' condition. In the morning, Rufus was glad to wake up in Tseng's arms. Over the next few weeks, Rufus experienced something new to him, being cared for by someone who actually cared for him. His own family never seemed to, and even the hired help just wanted to get paid, quitting when they didn't want to put up with Rufus anymore. He would even sometimes pretend to be weaker than he was, just to have Tseng's attention.

* * *

Rufus started to lift the revolver to his head, when he suddenly heard Tseng's voice. _I want you to give Elena all the help she'll need. You're all each other has now_. Rufus looked around and saw the TV replaying Tseng's video, but just the part where Tseng asked him to take care of Elena. The voice repeated over and over again. Rufus stared at Tseng's face for a few moments then went to finish pointing the revolver to his head when suddenly he felt the revolver being snatched out of his hand, and then he felt himself being grabbed out of his chair by a very angry Reno. Tseng's voice had stopped and Rufus saw that the TV was defunct again.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Reno demanded to know.

"Let me go!" Rufus snapped.

"I saw her chair knocked over, she never would have fallen that bad without a little help. Haven't you put her through enough?"

"It was an accident!"

"You're going to see your handiwork in action." Reno started dragging Rufus through the mansion to the first outside door he found.

"Where are you taking me?" Rufus tried to struggle as Reno took him to the helicopter and strapped him in.

"You're not gonna hide out here." Reno quit talking and concentrated on getting safely back to the hospital.


	4. Chapter 4

When they arrived at the hospital, Rude was waiting for them and explained that Elena had been taken to the operating room for an emergency C-section, and they wouldn't know if the glass had damaged the babies until they opened her up. Reno dragged a still-protesting Rufus to the gallery where they could watch Elena's surgery. She was fighting the anesthesia, but eventually she went under. Reno and Rufus both got a little queasy as they saw the doctors slice her stomach open and peel the skin back on the side that didn't have the glass shard.

They couldn't tell what happened next to the babies, because the doctors and nurses started obstructing their view. Heading back to the waiting room, Reno paced back and forth when they got there, while Rufus sat in a chair, sullen and lost in his own thoughts. Eventually a nurse came and told them that Elena came through just fine.

"What about the babies?" Reno and Rude asked simultaneously.

"Go see for yourselves, they're in the nursery now." the nurse said before leaving.

Reno and Rude hurried to see the babies, with Rufus reluctantly following. They had a nurse point out the twins, and were concerned to see the boy, who had Elena's blond hair, with a bandage covering one of his arms. The dark-haired girl had a small nick on her cheek, but other than that, they seemed to be healthy. When Reno knocked on the window and pointed to the boy's arm, the nurse came out into the hallway.

"His arm is nothing serious, he has some slight nerve damage that will be repaired next week when he's recovered from the birth trauma." she explained.

Rufus didn't pay attention to the conversation, he was staring at Elena and Tseng's babies.

* * *

When Elena woke up, she demanded the babies be brought to her. Rude was there with the camera, taking pictures until Elena snapped at him to quit flashing at her children. Reno shoved Rufus into the room, and Elena managed a smile. She wouldn't dishonor Tseng's memory by getting into it with Rufus as she held her children for the first time. Especially since she had already decided that she would stick him with diaper duty for a month.

"Would you like to hold your children? Elena asked Rufus.

"What?" Rufus was surprised and confused.

"Tseng gave up his parental rights to you. These are your children too." she reminded him as she handed him their daughter.


End file.
